Two Level 3 chargers are also available: one at Uptown and one at the Volkswagen dealership on Douglas Street. This does not account for any private charging stations associated with residential properties or businesses, said Rebecca Newlove, Saanich’s manager of sustainability.

The municipality also looks to increase the number of electric vehicles (EVs) in its fleet. According to Newlove, Saanich’s municipal fleet consists out of about 170 vehicles and an additional approximately 110 vehicles for police and fire.

“Saanich is in the process of converting all of the municipal fleet that are cars (18 of the 170) over to EVs as part of our fleet replacement plan,” she said. “Currently, eight of the 18 cars are EVs and 10 are hybrids, which are due to be replaced by EVs by 2020. In addition, the fire department has converted most of their cars to EVs.”

Transportation accounts for about 58 per cent of Saanich’s community-wide emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). According to ICBC, Vancouver Island was home to 5,300 hybrid vehicles, and 770 electric vehicles in 2016. Province-wide, ICBC recorded 30,000 hybrids and 3,400 electric vehicles. While growing, these numbers reflect tiny fractions of the vehicles on provincial roads.

In 2016, ICBC recorded a total of 2.41 million passenger vehicles, and 800,000 commercial vehicles. In fact, ICBC records almost four times as many motorcycles and mopeds (120,000) than the combined number of hybrids and electric vehicles (33,400).